After weathering an early Future Legends storm, Town grabbed the opener after six minutes, with a free-flowing move involving James Thorpe, Danny Rye and Haines that released the predatory Hennell, who outpaced Siraj Takolia before looping a half-volley over the prone Said Mohammed and into the roof of the net.

But it was Town who held the greater authority on the 3G synthetic surface, with Mohammed tipping Haines’s guided shot around the upright following Hennell’s reverse pass, before the same man pulled a cross-cum-shot wide of the far post, despite Keating’s attempts to make contact.

And Hennell went close again shortly afterwards, when he controlled Joe Gilkes’s throw-in and turned inside Bilal Nahim and Mergim Butaja before unleashing a fierce shot that was well handled by Mohammed.

Town then went close to undoing all their hard work when Taylor miscued a clearance and Makiese looked to have restored parity for Legends with a well-judged shot from long-range, but Rob Hall scrambled back on to the line to head clear with the keeper stranded.

But Legends snatched the equaliser out of nothing in first-half stoppage time, after a piece of individual brilliance from Hussain. Good work from Rajinder Sandhu and McBride freed up space in the area for Hussain, who swivelled past Hall before opening up his body and sliding the ball past Peter Stirley and Taylor into the far corner.

Buoyed by their equaliser, Legends pressed hard in the early stages of the second period, with Sandhu and Nahim both testing Taylor with skidding drives from distance, before Taylor was called into action once more to prevent Rye from putting the ball into his own net.

The turning point came 15 minutes into the half, when Butaja was adjudged by referee Jimmy Peakall to have handballed inside the area after a tangle with Hennell, allowing Keating to convert the spot kick by sending Mohammed the wrong way.

And Town extended their advantage just two minutes later, as Haines was allowed to rise unmarked to glance Keating’s corner into the stanchion from six yards out.

Legends came close to reducing the arrears when McBride, Shahi Noor Razak and Nasa Khan produced some neat interplay to tee up Hussain, but his strike was chalked off for offside.

Nuneaton made sure of victory ten minutes from time, when Hennell conjured up a carbon-copy of his first lob to make it 4-1.